Group Fitness – Personal Training – Massage
Its a funny thing, the head, and lately I have only just started to discover how much of a mind game I can actually play with myself. I used to limit myself with my won beliefs, but now all I do is constantly surprise myself!
I was tired and a little unwilling when I got up this morning. I decided to just go ans swim, not put any pressure on myself, and see how I felt.
Usually, today would be my sprint sets day. I decided to keep an open mind, its better not to, than to do it badly.
I did my usual warm up 400m, followed by 400m kick drills (need to keep those non running legs working somewhow!). I then decided to try one 50m sprint, just to see. I gave myself permission NOT to carry on, if it turned out to be rubbish!
I did the first one, wow. It was 4 seconds faster than last weeks average, and only one second off the average speed I used to be able to achieve when I was competing. oh well, I’ll do another, just see what happens. Same. I managed 5 in a row, all the exact same. Wow.
Moral: don’t set yourself a grand target, take each thing a small step at a time, and praise yourself for the achievement, regardless of how small!
I decided perhaps I should continue. So I did. I took things one step at a time again. The times remained solid, and all one second faster, each, than the first 5. So, I am clearly improving, and regaining my sprint fitness. Ok, the next level.
set yourself small achievable targets just outside your comfort zone. This is how you make progress
I decided for number 9, to try ‘all out’. Who cares, nothing to lose. result? another second faster than the previous 3. I knew though that I was tired. So I gave myself permission for the last one to be slower. The last one? same time as the first one.
I knew when I started that I would get more tired. So how could I combat that to remai consistent? On the first few, I managed 3 x breaths. I knew I would need to move to two. For the next few, I did the second half in 2 breaths / stroke. I knew that I would get more tired. By the end I was breathing every two from the start.
I also knew that I needed to remember my legs as well. When I felt tired, I focussed even more on form, and kick, to keep the speed up. Form is the first thing you tend to lose when you’re fatigued.
To progress from that set I could
I think I will, most likely tackle them in that order.
🙂